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RANSOM Y. BOVEE, OF BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS.

WRENCH.

1,240,171. 7 j j I Applicationfiled May 28, v1915, Serial No; 30,959.

ToaZZ whom it may c0n0e1'n:.., a

Be it known thatl, RANSOM Y. Bovnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bloomington, in the county of McLean and Stateof Illinois, have invented, a certain new and useful Improvement in Wrenches, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvementsin wrenches, particularly socalled pipe wrenches. It has for one object'to provide a wrench in whichthe distance between the two jaws. may be easily and conveniently adjusted to take any size of pipe in which the wrench may be manipulated with one hand adjustment being made with the thumb of the operator.

Another object is to provide awrench which will be rigid and durable in which side thrusts or twisting of the wrench may occur without distorting it. Other objects of my invention will appear in the specification.

Figure 1 is a side elevation;

Fig. 2 a plan section with parts broken away; 7

Fig. 3 a side elevation in a difierent position in part section 'with'parts brokenaway.

Like parts are indicated by the same letters in all the figures.

A is the wrench handle, A the wrench head made up of two parallel side walls A A joined at the bottom by a transverse wall A*. From these walls rises upwardly a housing A, the two sides of which project upwardly one from each of the walls A A and are tied together by a fixed yoke A across the top, which yoke has an inner concave surface A A is a toothed, fixed, though removable, pipe contacting jaw mounted on the headA Extending transversely across the lower side of the head is a cylindrical pivot bearing B cut away at one side. In it is rotatably mounted a pivot B This pivot carries the rocking yoke B slotted as indicated having a curved surface B adapted at one end of its movement to engage the surface A the upper extremity of the rocking yoke being provided with a tooth carrying lug B projecting forwardly therefrom narrower than the yoke and adapted as indicated in Fig. l to pass between the two forward side walls of the part A when thrust into position by the spring B engaging a Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 18, 1917.

Renewed February 12, 1917. Serial No. 148,258.

pin B on the back of the yoke B? and located within a socket B in the head A C is a shank slidable in the yoke B It is smooth on one side in engagement with the hump C on the yoke 13 and toothed at C to engage the teeth on the lug B. C is a thumb-piece on the end of the shank C and C? is a. jaw carried thereby in opposition to the jaw A It will be noted that the end of the shankenga es or penetrates the slot between the walls A and above the wall A.

It will be evident that while I have shown in -my drawing an operative device, still many changes might be made in size, shape and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of my invention. I wish therefore that my drawing be regarded as in a sense diagrammatic.

V The use and operation of my invention are as follows:

The operator holds the wrench in his hand in the usualmanner. When he wishes to open the jaws he puts his thumb on the thumb-piece and pulls down and back, rotating the shank and the yoke which carries it from the position shown in Fig. 1 to the position shown in Fig. 3, the downward and rearward pressure being exerted on the hump to cause the yoke to rock away from the teeth. He may then by continuing his pressuredownwardly while he draws back or pushes forward as the case may be slide the shank back and forth, it being necessary only that he continue his pressure to hold the yoke in position against the spring. As soon as this pressure is released the spring rotates the yoke and drives it back to the position shown in Fig. 1 to hold the parts together.- It will be understood that only a downward and rearward pressure on the thumb-piece will rotate the yoke to free the shank. If pressure is exerted against the nose of the moving jaw it only tends to press the shank up against the toothed portion on the yoke, and although this would si- 'multaneously exert a pressure on the hump the lever arm between the lug and pivot is greater than the lever arm between the hump and pivot, and so the upward pressure resists and overcomes the downward pressure and the teeth are firmly engaged. Of course, this does not prevent a rearward movement of the shank, but since the wrench operation t'ends always to draw the shank out and not to force it in it has an outward movement which must be resisted.

I claim:

1. A wrench comprising a handle, a hollow head and a jaw carried thereby, a yoke pivotally mounted within the head, a shank extending through and in rotatable and slidable engagement with both head and yoke, a jaw carried thereby in opposition to the jaw on the handle, clamping surfaces on the yoke and means for yieldingly rotating it tobring them into such engagement with opposed sides of the shank that a plane perpendicular to the shank containing the .axis of rotation of the yoke lies between the contact areas. 7

2. A wrench comprising a handle, a hollow head and a jaw carried thereby, a yoke pivotally mounted within the head, a shank extendingthrough and in rotatable and slidable engagement with both head and yoke, a jaw carried thereby in opposition to the aw on the handle, clamping surfaces on the yoke and means for yieldingly rotating it to bring them into engagement with opposed sides of the shank.

3. A wrench comprising a handle, a hollow head and a jaw carried thereby, a yoke pivotally mounted within the head, a shank extending through and in rotatable and slidable engagement with both head and yoke, a jaw carried thereby in opposition to the jaw on the handle, clamping surfaces on the yoke and means for yieldingly rotating it to bring them into engagement with Copiesof this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of opposed sides of the shank, and means contained within the head for limiting the rotational movement of the shank.

4:. A wrench comprising a handle, a 1101- low head anda jaw carried thereby, a yoke pivotally mounted within the head, a shank extending through and in rotatable and slidable engagement with both head and yoke, a jaw carried thereby in opposition to the jaw on the handle, clamping surfaces on the yoke and means for yieldingly rotating it to bring them into engagement with opposed sides of' the shank, and means contained withinthe head for limiting the rotational movement of the yoke.

5. A wrench comprising a handle, a hollow head and a jaw carried thereby, a yoke pivotally mounted within the head, a shank extending through and in rotatable and slidable engagement with both head and yoke,-a jawi carriedthereby in opposition to the-jaw on the handle, clamping surfaces on. the: yoke and means for yieldingly rotating it to bring them into engagement with opposed sides of the shank, and means contained within the head for limiting the rotational movement of both the shank and the yoke. I i

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses this 24th day of May, 1915.

RANSOM Y. Bovine. l/Vitnesses:

EVERETT W. OGLEVEE, B. A. FRANKLIN.

Patents,

Washington, I). G. I i 

